Failure to complete

ellieh01

Saying the situation was not ‘unusual’ was after discovering the lender confusion/remortgage. Saying it was in hand and poses no problem for completion was also after. They initially said all was needed was written confirmation from HSBC that I no longer had a mortgage with them. HSBC tells me they have provided this. The solicitor then dropped the bombshell Friday 5pm that the previous solicitor needed to either expedite their application or withdraw. No additional comment on completion in that email. I tried ringing but of course they had gone home by then. 

GDB2222

ellieh01 said:

Saying the situation was not ‘unusual’ was after discovering the lender confusion/remortgage. Saying it was in hand and poses no problem for completion was also after. They initially said all was needed was written confirmation from HSBC that I no longer had a mortgage with them. HSBC tells me they have provided this. The solicitor then dropped the bombshell Friday 5pm that the previous solicitor needed to either expedite their application or withdraw. No additional comment on completion in that email. I tried ringing but of course they had gone home by then. 

Perhaps your solicitor was over-optimistic initially. Perhaps your first solicitor has run into problems, or they are not being as helpful as hoped? Who knows? 

However, as long as your solicitor has taken reasonable steps to sort this out, they are not responsible. All you can do at this stage is give your solicitor as much help as possible. 

Incidentally, people have mentioned you being responsible for extra removal costs.  The reality is that, if it goes past the two weeks, you would be liable for 10% of the price of the most expensive house in the chain. It works like this:

Say you are buying a house for £200k - so you'll lose your £20k deposit.

However, your vendors will be unable to complete on their purchase, which might be for £300k. So, they'll lose £30k deposit (less the £20k from you), so you'll owe them another £10k. 

And, then, their vendors will lose their deposit (less the £30k), and they'll claim the difference from their buyers (your sellers), who will pass the bill on to you. 

And this process continues all the way up the chain.

user1977

ellieh01 said:

Saying the situation was not ‘unusual’ was after discovering the lender confusion/remortgage. Saying it was in hand and poses no problem for completion was also after. They initially said all was needed was written confirmation from HSBC that I no longer had a mortgage with them. HSBC tells me they have provided this. The solicitor then dropped the bombshell Friday 5pm that the previous solicitor needed to either expedite their application or withdraw. No additional comment on completion in that email. I tried ringing but of course they had gone home by then. 

Well, you can speak to them tomorrow. It can be sorted.

wilfred30

ellieh01 said:

The solicitor said the remortgage solicitor cancelling their application to update the register should work too. Anyone have experience with this?

btw our buyers are cash buyers, so no lender to worry about. 

Surely, if the solicitor for the Nationwide cancels their application to update the Charges Register, they would have no guarantee that their charge would be paid off on completion?

I would imagine that they'd be quite unlikely to do that.

ellieh01

Is anybody opining an actual conveyancer? 

GDB2222

wilfred30 said:

ellieh01 said:

The solicitor said the remortgage solicitor cancelling their application to update the register should work too. Anyone have experience with this?

btw our buyers are cash buyers, so no lender to worry about. 

Surely, if the solicitor for the Nationwide cancels their application to update the Charges Register, they would have no guarantee that their charge would be paid off on completion?

I would imagine that they'd be quite unlikely to do that.

They would have to rely on an undertaking from the solicitor handling the sale.

Curiously, relying on undertakings is absolutely standard practice in housing transactions. Even though you pay everything owed to your lender on the day of sale, the charge doesn't just get extinguished that day. In practice, it may be a day or two before the solicitor can pass that money on, in any case.

The conveyancer is still working on the transaction for some time after completion day, and everybody just relies on his undertaking to do so. Even if he falls under a bus, somebody will be appointed to tidy up his files by the regulator.

  

GDB2222

ellieh01 said:

Is anybody opining an actual conveyancer? 

I'm not, although I have done my own conveyancing several times. At least one of the posters is a conveyancer. 

I've also had a buyer fail to complete on a house I was selling.   

ellieh01

Which solicitor needs to provide an undertaking? Solicitor who did the remortgage, or the current solicitor doing the sale?

ellieh01

Btw - I’ve spoken to HSBC again and they have definitely provided written confirmation to the current solicitor that they discharged of their charge on the property on 11 August. 

Thrugelmir

ellieh01 said:

Btw - I’ve spoken to HSBC again and they have definitely provided written confirmation to the current solicitor that they discharged of their charge on the property on 11 August. 

Leave matters to your solicitor to deal with tomorrow. Nothing that you can do that will be beneficial. The situation is what it is.